Liberty! Justice! Equality! A new perspective presents a revolutionary look at the syntheses between European colonists and the American Indian in the evolution of the American democracy, mind and spirit.

What people are saying about SEEDS OF FREEDOM:“Seeds of Freedom: A Vision for America” is a seminal film which is vital to our culture now. It awakens the heart and soul of all of us who cherish the roots of love and liberty planted in the founding of the United States. It is needed now more than ever as inspiration and guidance in a brokenhearted world.We are all the indigenous peoples of Earth.”Barbara Marx Hubbard. Featured in the new film: “American Visionary: The Story of Barbara Marx Hubbard”

We are living in a time of increasing chaos when the very existence of the United States of America will come to be questioned. In this era the necessity for Americans to connect to and learn from the Native Americans and their traditions will play an increasingly important role. Connie Baxter Marlow and Andrew Cameron Bailey have made a commendable film which highlights the role of Native Americans in crafting the original political philosophy of the United States, which is highly relevant for our own time.Carl Johan Calleman, Ph.D. Author: “THE NINE WAVES OF CREATION: Quantum Physics, Holographic Evolution and the Destiny of Humanity.

Bozho (Hello) Connie and Andrew! I have often told people that the problems and sins of our nation were not a result of the founding principles, but because of deviation from them. The bar was set very high back then by both our native folks and founding fathers. A goal is no goal at all if it does not demand something of us that is beyond us, and requires us to reach beyond who we are to become who we want and need to be. I believe your project will help people see that truth once again and our nation will be the better for it! God bless you, and I wish you all the best! Blessings to you,Woody Carter. (Native American Flute in SEEDS OF FREEDOM.

The important inter-cultural origin story of the United States is currently shrouded in misconception, misunderstanding, shame and blame. SEEDS OF FREEDOM: A Vision for America presents a radical and challenging new perspective on the two syntheses between European Colonists and American Indians which gave birth to the American mind, spirit and democracy. It calls for a third synthesis now: for visionary Native Americans and European Americans to come together in our hearts to see what might be birthed from the melding of our two paradigms. We believe this third synthesis can lead to A New Future where peace will come to prevail on Earth.

BOSTON PREMIERE – November 2016
“SEEDS OF FREEDOM. A Vision for America”Boston Public Library November 10, 2016Film Premiere, Forum and Call-to-Action!

Special Guests: Mohawk elder Tom Porter and Pilgrim Scholar Gary Marks presented insights into the Iroquois Great Law and the Pilgrim vision for humanity as they apply to life today and the future.

Eminent philanthropist/historian James Phinney Baxter (1831-1921) believed that America must embody the high ideals of New England’s original settlers if it is to become a global exemplar of liberty, equality and justice. In 1921 he left a bequest instructing Boston to build a Pantheon to perpetuate the founding ideals and principles. Baxter’s great-great-granddaughter Connie Baxter Marlow adds a missing piece – the role of the American Indian in the evolution of democracy and the American mind and spirit.

Background

As we move toward 2020 – the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower and the First Great Synthesis between Europeans and the American Indian – we have the opportunity to look at American history through a new lens – the role of the US of A in the evolutionary upward spiral of human consciousness. Yes the US of America. All of US and the role we are going to play in realizing the original vision of the human potential to bring Equality, Liberty, Justice and Abundance for all: The True American Dream!

A Time of Synthesis

An extraordinary exception to the human condition unfolded when the visionary leaders of two radically different cultures met and worked together to maintain an inter-cultural exchange that became the “First Great Synthesis” between Europeans and American Indians during the fifty-four years of peace and friendship at Plymouth Plantation. This melding gave birth to American democracy and to the American mind and spirit. The “Second Great Synthesis” occurred when aspects of The Great Law of the Iroquois were integrated into the United States Constitution in 1787. A third synthesisis possible now as our cultures come together again to realize the great promise America made to the world in its freedom documents The Mayflower Compact, The Declaration of Independence and The U.S. Constitution.

********

About The James Phinney Baxter Lecture Series:
The James Phinney Baxter Lecture Series is dedicated to Baxter’s vision of America – realizing its promise of liberty, justice and equality for all. The series will be held quarterly leading up to 2020 – the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower – and 2030 – the founding of Boston. The Lecture Series will include subjects pertaining to the principles and ideals of early settlers of New England and the education of immigrants on the foundational principles of the United States.

The James Phinney Baxter/Percival P. Baxter Fund has been allocated to the Boston Public Library which is committed to realizing the mandate of James Phinney Baxter’s bequest.

For more information on James Phinney Baxter’s Vision and Bequest CLICK HERE.

As we move toward 2020 – the 400th anniversary of the landing of The Mayflower and the First Great Synthesis between Europeans and the American Indian – we have the opportunity to look at American history through a new lens – the role of the US of A in the evolutionary upward spiral of human consciousness. Yes the US of America. All of US and the role we are going to play in realizing the original vision.

Our work is aimed at moving the conversation between the European Americans and American Indians to a level where we explore a synthesis of our two paradigms, enabling something new to emerge.

Below you will find links to our work, mission and vision and the people and ideas that have come to us over the 25 years we have been creating forums for visionary indigenous elders, with the understanding that a synthesis will occur in our lifetime – We are calling it “The Third Great Synthesis” and are doing what we can to catalyze it. (First synthesis – Fifty-four years of peace and friendship at Plymouth Plantation 1621-1675) Second Synthesis – The Iroquois Great Law integrated into the U.S. Constitution.)

Film Synopsis: Eminent philanthropist/historian James Phinney Baxter (1831-1921) believed that America must embody the high ideals of New England’s original settlers if it is to become a global exemplar of liberty, equality and justice. In 1921 he left a bequest instructing Boston to build a Pantheon to perpetuate the founding ideals and principles. Baxter’s great-great-granddaughter Connie Baxter Marlow adds a missing piece – the role of the American Indian in the evolution of American democracy, mind and spirit.

We have a large body of work developed over the past 25 years that is an outgrowth of applying the ideas in the book. These ideas include the evolution of the free mind as influenced by the Mayflower Pilgrims, Henry David Thoreau, the Native Americans and the Founding Fathers. Click here for links to our work – enjoy a wander through the ideas presented. We’re looking forward to the “tipping point” when these concepts become pivotal in humanity’s evolutionary upward spiral as we begin to walk on Earth with an open heart, trusting a conscious, loving universe.

In this dream we find a society that considers the indigenous experience. When indigenous people demand the right to participate in the new society, this does not mean having a seat to partake from the common banquet, but having a place for their own values, so as to contribute to the transformation of this society. For the Indian, participating means giving his share, not just taking what is his by right, but to contribute with his own values.

We will express our dreams. In these circumstances we see what are new times, possible times: we dream as we try to see what this future will be, we imagine the Lord’s Church newly enriched by the contribution of cultural, ethnic and religious values, and clothed in many colors, thus strengthened by the thought, the journey, the mysticism, the strong and transformative vision that the Gospel possesses in different ethnic groups. Thus we imagine a future Church embellished with all these contributions.

We glimpse the possibility of a civil society enriched by all the contributions that are now surpressed; the indigenous voice that is stifled, at least here in Mexico, and which, for that very reason, is so new and striking that when we hear it for the first time we will realize how many things it questions, and it will enrich us from many points of view.

This world is there, and we can help contribute to its progress, increase its riches, or else obstruct it with our acts and omissions; but we can see, in general terms, that on a broader level, that there are positive forces in our country point toward transformation.

It is the destiny of the people of the Americas to come together as one family and show the world how to live in peace through freedom of the human spirit. The indigenous people of the Americas have been holding keys to the freedom of the spirit for all of humankind through their connection to the Earth and the unseen universal forces.

When we bring together what they know and what the modern cultures have learned by experiencing the scientific paradigm, a synthesis will occur which will create a whole new way of walking on Earth in harmony with all of Creation never experienced by anyone since the beginning.

Dear Editor;
This is a time of synthesis – a time of coming together as the heart of humanity opens to the sacredness and oneness of all life inspired now by the crises that separation and the negation of life have brought forth onto the world stage.

The three day harvest celebration at Plymouth Plantation in 1621 and the fifty four years of peace and friendship that followed between the Mayflower Pilgrims and the Pokanoket Wampanoag was an extraordinary exception to human behavior before or since. It was the First Great Synthesis that gave birth to American democracy and the American mind and spirit; the inspiring origin story of what has yet to become a great nation that lives up to its vision and its promise.

A Second Great Synthesis between European Americans and American Indians occurred when aspects of The Great Law of the Iroquois was integrated into the Constitution of the United States.

It’s time now for the US of America to recognize the shadow and the light of every race and acknowledge that throughout history all races – the white, the black, the red and the yellow – have reached great heights of enlightenment and have also been influenced by fear, greed and power leading to violent, unconscionable behavior amongst each other and between races.

Ultimately, when we step back, fly high and take a look at the evolution of the human race, we will see that we are all one species playing out our light and our shadow. There will be a Third Great Synthesis when WE choose to open our hearts and minds to each other, walk forward into the light, and together create a world of peace and abundance for all our children – to the 7th generation and beyond.

The visionary leaders, Bradford and Massasoit of the Mayflower Pilgrims and the Wampanoags gave us a glimpse of what is possible when cultures bridge great gulfs of differences and align with the underlying humanity that binds us all together.

THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS: Freedom and Friendship at Plymouth Plantation. A Cameron/Baxter Films project bringing balance to America’s origin story and honor to the Mayflower Pilgrims and Native Americans for their role in the evolution of democracy and the American mind and spirit.

This project brings a healing perspective to America’s Origin Story. It will bring honor to both the Pilgrims and the Indians. The extraordinary fifty-four years of inter-cultural peace and friendship between the Mayflower Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians exemplified the human potential at Plymouth Plantation, 1621-1675. It was an exception to the human condition then, and now!

Answer:
1. They are all descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims, and
2. Their Mayflower ancestors have been dishonored, maligned, vilified, and disparaged by widespread misinformation.

How? ‘Politically correct’ falsehoods have been spread about the Pilgrims by people as diverse as Hollywood actress Cher (in her 2013 Thanksgiving ‘smallpox blankets’ Twitter post to her 2 million followers,) revisionist historian Howard Zinn (in his bestseller A Peoples’ History of the United States,) the United Native Americans of New England, and many others.

Countless Americans believe these untruths, many of which are now deeply imbedded in the national psyche. Google the ‘Real Story of Thanksgiving’ for examples. The Pilgrim/Indian relationship has been confused and conflated with Columbus, the Puritans, the Pequot War, the French and Indian Wars, and virtually every other indigenous/European conflict throughout history. The Pilgrim/Indian relationship was much more positive than is currently believed.

Let’s look at some of the erroneous current assumptions about the Mayflower Pilgrim/ Indian relationship. This is America’s primary origin story, and it has a profound influence upon the national psyche.

Fiction vs Fact

1.Fiction: The Mayflower Pilgrims gave the Indians smallpox-infected blankets, wiping out 90% of the indigenous people of New England.

Fact: This scenario is chronologically impossible. The Mayflower landed in November 1620, two to four years AFTER the epidemic that had decimated the New England tribes in 1616-1618. There is no historical evidence of smallpox aboard the Mayflower, nor on any of the French and English vessels that had visited the area earlier. The first recorded smallpox outbreak in New England occurred in Boston in 1633.

Contemporary reports called the epidemic that decimated New England’s coastal tribes between 1616 and 1618 ‘the plague.’ Europeans of the time knew the difference between smallpox and plague. The disease, similar to the Black Death epidemic that killed 6 out of 10 Londoners in the mid-1300s, most likely originated from French fur traders in Nova Scotia and Eastern Canada,

2. Fiction: The Pilgrims were welcomed with open arms by the Indians of Cape Cod.

Fact: At the ‘first encounter’ on December 6, 1620, Nauset warriors attacked a group of Pilgrims exploring the shoreline. They fired some 30 arrows at them, before being driven off by musket fire. Fortunately, no one was killed or even injured. Two years earlier, two French fishing vessels had been attacked, burned, and their crews enslaved and killed by the natives. While Plymouth Plantation was under construction, the Pilgrims were under constant threat of attack and annihilation by the neighboring tribes, with the notable exception of Massasoit’s Pokanoket band and a few other friendly groups.

3. Fiction: The Pilgrims would have died of starvation during the first winter if the Indians had not taken them in and fed them.

Fact: The Mayflower anchored at Provincetown Nov 11, 1620. Other than one violent encounter, they did not meet any Indians for over 4 months, during which time half of the passengers died of the ‘general sickness’ (probably scurvy) not of starvation. The Pilgrims met their first Indian, Samoset, on March 16, 1621, then Squanto, Massasoit, and the Pokanokets on March 22, 1621. On that date, the Pilgrims and Massasoit signed a peace treaty that both sides honored for over fifty years. The Pilgrims had adequate food, and in fact fed their Indian visitors on numerous occasions.

4. Fiction: The Indians lived in universal peace and harmony before the coming of the Europeans.

Fact: There are numerous first-hand reports showing many Indian tribes were in a state of perpetual war, building federations and empires, competing for territory, exterminating trading competitors, taking slaves, sacrificing humans, and torturing captives. The forgotten Tarratines War (1607 – 1619) – which had a profound impact on the situation the Mayflower encountered in 1620 – is a well-documented example.

5. Fiction: Indigenous American society was completely egalitarian.

Fact: Like the Europeans, the Indians recognized royal and noble bloodlines, such as those of Nanapashimet, Massasoit, Powhatan and hundreds of others. Only persons of royal lineage could marry one another or succeed a sachem or sagamore. In Virginia, Powhatan was an Emperor, Pocahontas was a royal princess. In New England, ‘Squaw Sachem’ and Weetamoo were queens, and King Philip was a royal prince. Philip declared that he was the equal of King Charles II of England, which is why the settlers nicknamed him ‘King’ Philip.

6. Fiction: The Pilgrims came ashore in 1620 as an invading army, raping and pillaging. They massacred the first 700 Indians they encountered, then sat down for a Thanksgiving feast with the survivors.

Fact: The 52 Pilgrims (14 adult men, 4 adult women, and 34 children) who survived the first winter made friends with the Pokanoket Indians they met in the spring of 1621. The Pilgrims and the Pokanokets lived in peace and harmony with each other until 1675, over half a century. In 1675, the Indians declared all-out war on the settlers, in one of the bloodiest conflicts, per capita, in American history.

7. Fiction: The Pilgrims and the Puritans were one and the same, and both were religious fanatics.

Fact: The Pilgrim Separatists were quite different from the Puritans. They were remarkably open-minded, having spent 12 years in liberal Holland before crossing the Atlantic. They had much in common, spiritually, with the Indians, did not attempt to convert them to Christianity, and were much more sympathetic to the Indians than were the Puritans, who began arriving in 1630, ten years after the landing of the Mayflower. Once Massasoit declared himself to be ‘King James his man’ his people became subject to all the rights and protections of English law.

8. Fiction: The Pilgrims were incompetent, ignorant convicts who were expelled from England. Once they landed, they had no idea how to fend for themselves.

Fact: The Pilgrims were educated English farmers and tradesmen. Their leaders were Cambridge-educated. They were religious dissidents, which was illegal in England at the time. That was their only crime. They knew the land. It was very similar to England. During their first year in Plymouth they constructed a village and a fort from scratch, saved Massasoit’s life with an English remedy, and planted and reaped a successful harvest, with help from Squanto’s corn-planting advice.

9. Fiction: The Indians never harmed anyone. The Europeans came to North America and massacred the peace-loving inhabitants.

Fact: It went both ways. There is no question that Europeans and Indians massacred one another from time to time, but the Mayflower Pilgrims were never involved in a massacre. Research shows that throughout the entire contact period (1600-1850) Indians carried out approximately 500 massacres against Europeans, and Europeans committed about 450 massacres against Indians. A total of approximately 9,000 settlers were massacred by Indians, compared with roughly 7,000 Indians massacred by Europeans.

Fact: After years of preparation, selling land and buying weapons with the money, Metacom (Philip) declared all-out war on the settlers in June, 1675, bringing to an end 54 years of peace and friendship between the Pilgrims and the Indians. Philip’s well-armed warriors killed an estimated 2,500 English men, women and children throughout New England. King Philip’s War was the bloodiest conflict, per capita, in recorded American history. The war might have gone against the English, had not the Mohawk come in on their side. The war ended when Metacom was killed (by an Indian) on August 6th, 1676.

There are many positive and uplifting facts about the 50 years of friendship at Plymouth Plantation 1621-1675, as the two cultures laid the foundation for the evolution of American democracy and the American mind and spirit, an important step in humanity’s progress toward realizing the essence of the American Dream – Liberty, Justice and Abundance for all.

Film Premiere and Forum: Boston Public Library November 10, 2016 6-8 pm. Meet the elders and filmmakers 5-6. Mohawk elder Tom Porter and Pilgrim Scholar Gary Marks will present insights into the Iroquois Great Law and the Pilgrim vision for humanity as they apply to life today and the future.

FILM SYNOPSIS:

Eminent philanthropist/historian James Phinney Baxter (1831-1921) believed that America must embody the high ideals of New England’s original settlers if it is to become a global exemplar of liberty, equality and justice. In 1921 he left a bequest instructing Boston to build a Pantheon to perpetuate the founding ideals and principles. Baxter’s great-great-granddaughter Connie Baxter Marlow adds a missing piece – the role of the American Indian in the evolution of American democracy, mind and spirit.

The James Phinney Baxter Vision
James Phinney Baxter (1831-1921), pre-eminent New England historian and philanthropist, had a grand vision for humanity. He saw that the core ideas expressed in The Mayflower Compact, written in the cabin of the Mayflower before landing in 1620, of a “civil body politic [formed] to enact, constitute, and frame just and equal laws for the general Good” and other principles and ideals of the early settlers of New England were foundational “to develop a form of government in which the best aspirations of men could find free play.*“ He proposed that America could be an“inspiration to the world if we are able to live up to the ideals of our forefathers*“ which he believed are the “self-evident truths of the human mind. *”

These ideals included“the creation of a commonwealth in which all men loyal to God and the brotherhood of man should enjoy, under His providence, civil liberty and the exercise of the rights of private conscience. *“

The vision of James Phinney Baxter has yet to be realized: that the United States of America “lead as the exemplar of Liberty, Justice and Brotherhood among the nations of the world.*”

*Quotes taken from James Phinney Baxter’s 1920 address to the New England Historical Genealogical Society on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower.

The Baxter Project TeamJames Phinney Baxter’s great great grand daughter Connie Baxter Marlow, her daughter Alison Baxter Marlow and her partner Andrew Cameron Bailey, believe that this is because America’s Origin Story has never been told accurately. First it glorified the Pilgrim and left out the Indian, now it demonizes the Pilgrim in an effort to honor the Indians.

The Baxter Project Team is producing a film that will set the record straight, bring balance to the story, and honor both the Pilgrim and the Indian for their role in the evolution of American democracy and the American mind and spirit. The film will premiere in the fall of 2016 to inaugurate The James Phinney Baxter Lecture Series at the Boston Public Library.

Background

In order to inspire America and the world to actualize these ideals, James Phinney Baxter felt there must be a New England Pantheon or Temple of Honor to house a pictorial record of the deeds and ideals of the founders of New England. He was well aware of “the persistent attempt to defame and belittle the Pilgrim and the Puritan” before and during 1920, the 300th Anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower.

In 1921 Mr. Baxter bequeathed money to the City of Boston with the specification that in the future it would be used to build the Pantheon. His son, ex-Governor of Maine Percival P. Baxter, augmented the fund in 1969. However, the Pantheon was never built. In 1997 the trust was broken. Some money was allocated to the City of Portland, Maine. The remainder sat in the coffers of the City of Boston until June 2013 when it was allocated to the Boston Public Library. A portion of the fund had been used to create The Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians. The Boston Public Library intends to honor the original vision of James Phinney Baxter with programs leading up to and including 2020, the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower.

The Baxter Project Team has produced books, films, photography exhibitions and talks over the past 15 years to bring the Native American voice, heart and spirit forward. We believe there is a core wound in the heart of America. The inspiring story of The First Fifty Years is shrouded in misinformation and misbelief, leading to anger, blame, shame and guilt. Consequently, this nation is morally paralyzed. America was founded by visionaries who articulated a vision for humanity in its freedom documents: The Mayflower Compact, The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. What is not known or understood is that it was a synthesis between the European settlers and the Native Americans that evolved into democracy and the American mind and spirit.

Call to Action

There is a high road to realizing the true American Dream of freedom, justice and abundance for all. James Phinney Baxter recognized the universal importance of this dream. To get there, we must first understand the significance of the Pilgrim, the Indian and the principles that guided them.

The Baxter Project Team believes a new perspective on the important intercultural synthesis that occurred in Plymouth Colony during the life-times of Governor William Bradford and Pokanoket Wampanoag Sachem Massasoit, coupled with the next synthesis 100 years later during the Constitutional Convention when aspects of the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy were incorporated into The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution will bring to light the need for a new Anglo American/American Indian dialogue in the present time.

To that end, the Baxter Project team is proposing the formation of a “Healing Council” series of talks to express thoughts and feelings and to develop strategies that will encourage a 3rd great synthesis between Anglo Americans and American Indians to unfold.

“When we come together with the indigenous peoples as equals, as family, and we each open our hearts and our minds to the other, the melding of our gifts will bring a new perspective that is invisible at this time. This new perspective will allow us to see the path to true unity, peace and freedom.” Connie Baxter Marlow